Our hypothesis is that we can increase the effectiveness of nursing by providing, at the bedside, information needed to manage the patient. Currently there are vital signs and a patient chart at the bedside. However, there is a growing list of other information that is necessary for effective care such as treatment protocols, how to operate a device, hospital policies, recent literature on a clinical problem, etc. The Phase I work will be to implement and evaluate a demonstration prototype system initially focusing on the information needs of a neuro intensive care unit. Our approach to the problem is to develop an open standard for the electronic representation and interchange of different types of bedside information. We will then develop software for reading this standard and a common, easy-to-use, user interface. Users of the system would "subscribe" to information which "publishers" would produce in this standard. The benefits of such a standard to the information users and providers are significant. For example, the system can instantly deliver new treatment protocols to the bedside significantly reducing the time between development of treatments and their clinical application. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS: Developing an open bedside information standard will not generate revenues in itself, however, it will provide a significant opportunity for the sale of software tools, display software, and content. As the initial system on the market to address this problem , we would have an advantage. Revenues from the information presentation software would be approximately $3.5 million per year (5% penetration of neuro, cardiac, neonatal/pediatric ICU beds).